Peru Votes to Legalize Medicinal Cannabis

CANNABIS CULTURE – Medical marijuana will soon be legally available to residents of Peru.

On October 19, Peru’s Congress approved a bill that legalizes cannabis for medicinal use. The bill also allows for the importation, local production, and sale of cannabis oil.

“Thousands of patients and their family members will have hope and a better quality of life,” said lawmaker Alberto de Belaunde.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski supported the bill, which was proposed after a February police raid on a facility where a group of mothers manufactured cannabis oil in order to treat their ailing children.

Cannabis activist Ana Alvarez told the Guardian, “We’re very happy with the fact that Peruvian law has approved this…But we’re not totally satisfied.”

Alvarez is the founder of Buscando Esperanza, the group that was raided in February. Alvarez noted that while the new bill will allow local production of cannabis oil, it did not legalize self-cultivation, which means organizations like hers will not be able to continue to operate.

Under the new law, cannabis and its derivatives will be available to patients with certain conditions, including cancer and epilepsy.

Cannabis is currently legal for medicinal use in Colombia and Chile, and is fully legalized in Uruguay.